Christmas Bird Count Brings Bird Lovers Out Nationwide

by: January 5, 2009Amherst, MA

Wandering around outside in the cold and snow for hours may not be everybody’s favorite way to spend a weekend, but thousands of people across the country have done just that these past few weeks… all in the name of counting birds. Today marks the last day of the National Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count, which takes amateur and professional birdwatchers alike out to woods and city parks. The Bird Count’s director is Geoff LeBaron, who lives and watches birds in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. LeBaron told WFCR’s Tina Antolini that the Bird Count was started by an ornithologist named Frank Chapman back in 1900, around the time people were starting to realize that wildlife wasn’t an unlimited resource.